Two Weeks
by ThoseNights
Summary: For two weeks, Forks High students must take care of actual children. This includes the Cullens and Bella. But when things escalate into something more...Edward finds himself making drastic decisions. Full summary inside. New ALERT up.
1. Kids!

**Full Summary: For the last two weeks of the school year, Forks High School students will have to take care of a real child to learn what's it is like to be a parent while still in school. This includes the Cullens and Bella. Everything seems to be going fine; who knew vampires could be such good parents? Bella and Edward decide to take their parenting to the next level, and once the two weeks are up, they decide to actually adopt their child, Max. But while the adoption is finalizing, the Volturi show up and say that Vampires cannot have a life with a mortal. So Edward must decide, should he change Bella, or give up Max? **

**M'kay so here's my new story!! I've been working on this for a while, but haven't uploaded it because this would never happen in real life and...yeah. Max is from the book 'Hanging on to Max' It's really short, but I love that book!! So read, review, and enjoy. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Matt and Emily. **

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CHAPTER ONE

"BELLA, LOVE, wake up," Edward's soft voice floated through my deep sleep and woke me up

"Do I have to?" I groaned. I was having a great sleep and definitely did not want to be bothered by the burden of school. He laughed,

"Yes, you must. Remember, today is the day we go to pick up our children." All of the Biology classes were going to an orphanage in Seattle to 'adopt' a child for two weeks. We had to take care of the kids like they were our own and we had to be 'married' to our lab partners in class. Thankfully, if you had the same sex partner, you could switch with someone else. Even more thankfully, Edward was my lab partner. Alice had Jasper as her lab partner in her class and the same with Emmett and Rosalie.

"Oh yeah," I said, getting out of my warm bed. I walked over to my closet and picked out a simple jeans-and-tank top outfit. I had just started taking off my pajama top before I realized that Edward was still in the room. I turned back to face him, still in my bra and shorts.

"Are you going to stay?" I asked. His eyes were scanning over me, obviously hungry.

"Yes, I am. That is, if you don't mind me staying?" He said.

"It's fine." I replied. Before I could get my tank-top on, I felt two strong, cold arms wrap around my waist. Edward leaned in close behind me and kissed my neck gently. My heart rate went through the roof, and I was getting dizzy from not being able to breathe.

"You know, you look so much better without a shirt on," He whispered. He continued to kiss my neck. I, slowly, turned around in his arms and kissed his lips. He gratefully returned the kiss, doing it back with full force. I was getting more light-headed by the second, and Edward broke off the kiss.

"Maybe you should finish getting dressed." I nodded and continued to put on my clothes.

"So, what do you think we're going to get?" I asked Edward as we drove to school. He was going past all posted speed limits, as normal.

"I want a boy, but whatever we get, I'm sure it will be perfect. Like you." He said. I blushed.

"I wouldn't mind a boy, but I really want a girl." We pulled into the Forks High parking lot a minute later, with Alice waving us down. She was bouncing up and down, very close to exploding right there.

"Someone had extra sugar this morning…" I whispered to Edward. He laughed gently and guided me out of the car.

"Are you guys excited? I am! I already know what everyone is going to get! You guys are getting a…" Edward had his hands over her mouth before she could blurt out the secret.

"Shut up Alice! We want it to be a surprise." He said. She squirmed out of his arms and pouted.

"Fine, just spoil my fun. Come on, we're going to be late." She led us over to a row of three busses, all waiting to take us to the orphanage. Mr. Banner was trying to get students situated on the bus, but with no suck luck. It was complete chaos. Alice pulled us onto the first bus and all the way in the back where Jasper was saving a few seats for us.

"Hey Bella, Edward," He greeted us. After about twenty minutes of talking and kids filling up the seats on the bus, Mr. Banner came on the intercom of the busses.

"Students, please sit with your partner for this assignment. It will make us more organized when we get to Seattle." A few kids groaned and switched seats.

"Thank you. Now when we get there, please be respectful to both the staff and the children. They are scared to be going home with some stranger, so do not frighten them any more than they already are. That means you, Emmett Cullen." Emmett was one of Mr. Banner's favorite students (and I mean that in the most sarcastically way possible). Emmett was always playing jokes on the teacher in his classes and Biology happened to be one of Emmett's favorite classes to joke around in. A couple kids laughed at the joke, including myself.

The bus took off after Mr. Banner said some things about us not having classes for the rest of the day. We sat in silence for a while, before Alice broke it.

"So you're sure you don't want to know what you are going to get?" She said.

"Yes, Alice, we want to be surprised. Just because you know what you're going to get doesn't mean the rest of the world does," Edward said. I laughed. She really wanted to tell us what it was, and I wanted to know. "Well, I want to know. How about Alice whispers it in my ear, and since you can't read my mind, you wont know?" I asked Edward.

"Fine, just tell her to be really quiet about it so that I won't hear." Alice squealed and bent in close to my ear, whispering the secret sex of my child into my ear. I smiled, it was exactly what I wanted it to be; either one. We chatted for the rest of the trip over little things like when the Cullens were going hunting.

"We were thinking about going this weekend. That is, if we can find someone to baby-sit." Edward explained. I laughed.

"Don't look at me." I immediately said. Edward grinned. We arrived at a large building about ten minutes later. It was very high-tech as far as the security system went. A woman ushered us inside and we all sat at different tables in, what seemed to be, a cafeteria. The woman got up onto a small stage that was set up in front of the tables and gave us a speech on how to take care of the kids. I zoned out and started thinking about how different the next two weeks would be with three little kids running around the Cullen mansion. Charlie had agreed that I could stay at the Cullen's for the project. It had taken a two-hour talk with Esme, Carlisle, Edward, and I to convince him that nothing would happen, but he finally agreed. I was pulled out of my thoughts by everyone standing up. Edward offered me his hand and I used it to stand up.

"Are you ready?" He asked. I nodded.

"No, the question is: are you ready?" I knew that he was nervous about having a child around. He had never delt with kids before.

"Yes I'm fine. Let's go!" He smiled my favorite crooked smile and we walked over to where Mr. Banner was assigning kids to 'parents'.

"Mr. Cullen and Ms. Swan? Congratulations, you have a boy named Max in room 208. Here is your pass," He handed us a laminated card that said VISITOR: FORKS HIGH SCHOOL in bold, red letters. Edward grinned and walked us to room 208 on the second floor of the building. I knocked on the door of the room and a child attendant opened the door, a baby balanced on her hip.

"Oh, hi, you must be the students, right?" She asked. We nodded and she handed the baby to me. "Well, here is Max. He is ten months old. Here, come inside and we can talk." Edward led the way into the room that was decorated like a traditional boy's nursery. The walls were blue and the furniture was a matching green color. The attendant was gathering diapers, bottles, and other baby items into a large bag. "His parents were teenagers who had had unprotected sex and couldn't keep him. His favorite color is yellow and he absolutely loves Cheerios. Max can't really talk yet, but he likes to baby-talk. You know, that babbling thing babies do? And he can't walk either. Well, I think that's all you will need to know for now. Here is his bag," She handed the bag to Edward, "and his car seat. Sorry, but if you need anything else, you will have to buy it." She handed a car seat to Edward and ushered us out of the room.

"So is that it? Do we just go now?" Edward asked.

"That's it. You have to sign him out with your teacher and then you can leave. Good luck and if you have any questions call the office. The number is in the diaper bag." The attended turned and walked away, leaving us with a baby, a bag, and lots of questions. I looked down at Max and he grinned at me.

"Wow-wow" He said. I smiled and saw Edward smiling next to me. Max was little for a ten-month-old and he had emerald green eyes like Edward's once were.

"Come on. Let's go find everyone else," Edward led us through the crowd of students and their kids. We passed Mike Newton and Angela with their kid. It was a girl who had just learned to walk, as she was trying to walk out of the room. When we finally found Alice and Jasper, Alice was bouncing again.

"Edward, Bella, meet our little girl, Emily. Isn't she cute? I can't wait until we get home so I can dress her up. Oh, this is going to be the best project ever!" She squealed. Jasper was beside her holding a baby that looked so tiny she could have been a newborn, though I knew they wouldn't let us 'adopt' newborns. They really did not want anything to happen to these kids.

"Alice, how old is she?" I asked.

"Five months."

"Hey guys!" Emmett yelled through the crowd. He was leading Rosalie away from a group of students gushing over their babies. Emmett had a young boy in his arms and Rosalie was carrying all of the stuff.

"Hey, you got a boy too! His name's Matt and he's one and a half years old." Emmett said it so proud that you would've thought that it was his greatest accomplishment ever.

"Cool. This is Max. He's ten months old." Edward said. Jasper introduced Emily and we all headed back to the bus. We were the first ones on so everyone had room to stretch out. Max started playing with the buttons on the front of my shirt and was sticking them in his mouth.

"Hey, you! Those are mine," I said in a sort-of baby talk voice. Max laughed and grabbed my nose. "Oh, now it's on," I laughed and gently tweaked his nose. Max laughed again and clapped his hand together. I could feel Edward's eyes on us, but I didn't look towards him. Edward reached over and tickled Max just below his chin. Max squealed and reached his arms out to Edward. He looked to me for support, but he had to learn sometime soon that this kid would want him as much as it would want me for the next two weeks.

I handed Max to Edward and he looked at Edward with big eyes, almost like he was surprised that I would hand him to this stranger. Then Edward smiled (my favorite crooked smile, I might add) and Max conked out right on Edward's chest. He looked freaked out and started to panic about every possible thing that could have gone wrong.

"Relax, Edward. He just fell asleep. You didn't do anything wrong." The rest of the kids were starting to fill up the bus, some with babies and some with small toddlers. I glanced over my shoulder to see Rosalie playing peek-a-boo with Matt and Alice arguing with Jasper about whether Alice could re-dress Emily or not. I looked ahead and saw Lauren holding a baby as far away from her as the seats would allow.

"My new top!" She cried as the baby spit up on her. Mike was snickering across from her and Kelsey was trying to clean the baby puke off Lauren's shirt.

"Finally, she gets what she deserves." Edward mumbled, leaning close to my ear so no one else could hear. Emmett laughed out loud at Edward's joke and Lauren glared at him. She was thinking that he was laughing at her. Before she could protest, Mr. Banner came back on the intercom.

"Attention students: When we get back to the school, you are free to go home. Classes have been canceled for the rest of today and tomorrow. Please, when taking your 'children' home, obey all posted speed limits and safety precautions. We don't want to have to pay for any hospital bills. Thank you," He stopped talking and the bus started the engine. Several babies started crying from the loud noise, including Emily, but Max remained asleep.

"WE'RE HOME!" Alice called through the Cullen house. Esme appeared before us in an instant, obviously wanting to gush over the kids.

"Let me see my grandchildren," She said. She went to Emily first, saying how cute she was. Then she did the same with Matt. But, she looked shocked to see Max.

She gasped, "Edward, he looks just like you did before you got changed." Edward wasn't at all bothered by this.

He laughed, "Except he has less hair." Everyone laughed, and we all decided to get settled upstairs with our new 'kids'. I sat down on the bed in Edward's room, silently remembering to thank Alice for getting it. Edward put Max on the floor and he started crawling out the door.

"Whoa, buddy. Where do you think y7ou're going?" Edward picked Max back up and put him on the bed beside me. Max grabbed onto my shirt, then my shoulder, trying to stand himself up. I quickly pulled him back onto the bed, not wanting him to fall and get hurt.

"Jeez, you really do like to move, don't you?" I asked Max. As if to answer me, he gave me a toothy grin and bounced up and down on the bed. He reminded me of a smaller, boy-version of Alice. Edward laughed, reading my thoughts.

"I guess he does bounce like her."

"Yeah," I said, lost in thought. Everything was silent for a minute, then Max burst out crying. The silence before the storm, I guess. I checked his diaper and it was dry. That ment he was hungry.

"Watch him," I said to Edward while I ran down the stairs to grab a bottle out of the bag the attendant gave us. I tripped twice and heard Emmett laughing, hearing me stumble. A few of the bottles were already made, and for that I was eternally grateful. When I got back to the room, Max had stopped crying and Edward was rocking him back and forth, singing a soft lullaby. I didn't recognize the tune, but I knew that he was going to have to play it on the piano later.

"How did you do that?" I asked, giving the bottle to Edward. He gave me a 'what-am-I-supposed-to-do-with-this?' look so I attempted to explain bottle-feeding babies to him.

"Okay, hold him in the crook of your arm and support his head." Edward did it perfectly, like everything else. "Now hold the bottle so that it's almost upright." We sat in silence for a while, listening to the sucking sounds Max was making. Edward was grinning full-force like he had gotten the greatest present ever. Max's eyelids began to droop and he eventually fell asleep. Edward removed the bottle from his mouth and set it on the table next to the bed. Silently, Edward stood up, Max still in his arms, and placed him on the bed.

"Do you want to take a shower and eat while he is still asleep?" Edward asked, his voice barley above a whisper. I nodded.

"You don't mind watching Max?" Edward shook his head.

"I think I can handle him. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?" Edward said, smiling at me. I could see that he was nervous to take care of Max, alone, but he was also determined.

Amazingly, nothing bad happened to my baby while I was in the shower. Rosalie and Emmett on the other hand… After I had gotten dressed, I went downstairs with Max to see if he wanted to play with Matt while I made something to eat for myself. When I reached the bottom step, I laughed so hard that I almost dropped Max. Matt was running around the house diaper-less with Emmett chasing after him. Matt thought it was a game, so he would hide from Emmett whenever he got into another room. Eventually Rose caught Matt and changed him, but she yelled at Emmett for letting him run around the house half-naked.

I walked past them into the kitchen where it was even more of a mess. Alice was trying to scoop formula into a bottle while juggling a screaming Emily at the same time. I quickly set Max down on the floor and grabbed Emily from Alice so she could finish making the bottle.

"Thanks. I didn't know babies could cry so much. I mean, one minute she's hungry, then she is tired, then she just wants to be held. It's driving me insane!" I handed Emily back to Alice. Alice held Emily perfectly for feeding. I guess they're all perfect at that.

"Good luck with her then. I'm so glad we got Max; he almost never cries. Oh god, I think I just jinxed it." I said, hearing Max cry from the floor. I looked down and he was standing up on two legs, holding his arms out to me. I smiled and picked him up. It wouldn't be long before he would be walking on his own.

"Do you know where the guys are?" Rose said, coming into the kitchen with Matt on her back. Rose was enjoying this project. She always wanted kids and having one for two weeks was the next best thing.

"No. I haven't see Edward in a while." I said. I pulled out a pot from the cabinet and handed a wooden spoon to Max so he could beat on the pan.

"Jasper was upstairs. Who knows what he is doing. Although he should be down here helping his wife feed their child." Alice emphasized the last sentence so Jasper would hear. Rose laughed.

"I already tried everything from death threats to sex treatments to get Emmett down and nothing worked. And you know how much of a baby Emmett is! No offense," She looked at the three kids, who were now all banging on the pot. "What could they all possibly be doing?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it can't be good." I said.

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**So did you like it?? If I get...hmm... five reviews, I'll post chapter two. I already have it done! Btw: If anyone is willing to beta-read this for me, I would greatly apprechiate (i think i spelled that wrong) it!! **

**PRESS IT!! VVVV you know you want to...**


	2. Stitches Crap

**Oh. My. God. 14 reviews and over A HUNDRED hits?! YOU GUYS SO TOTALLY ROCKKKK!! Thank you soooooo much for the reviews!! And just for that, heeeerrreeesss chapter 2!!**

**Disclaimer: I dont own anything except Matt and Emily. **

CHAPTER TWO

THE NEXT THING I KNEW, I was being blinded by a strong, cold, hand covering my eyes. Max was taken from my arms and I searched frantically for him.

"Edward?" I asked. I heard his musical laughter behind me.

"Let me lead you, Bella. I have a surprise for you and Max." I let Edward pick me up in his arm, while still covering my eyes, and up two flights of stairs. The last landing was airy; somewhere I had never been before. I tried to peek from behind his marble hand, but he caught me.

"Ah-ah, Bells. No peeking. Don't worry, we're almost there." I heard the sound of a door opening, and light hit my eyes. "Okay, now you can look." I had my eyes open before Edward could remove his hand. I gasped and held my hand to my mouth to keep from screaming.

The room was beautiful, to say the least. The walls were painted a soft green with thin, yellow stripes going down them. The south wall entirely made of glass, much like Edward's room, but with yellow curtains down the sides. A wooden crib was set up in one of the corners and a pale blue couch faced the east wall. Some other furniture was set up along the walls and a medium-sized toy box was in the middle of the room.

Max squealed in Edward's arms and wriggled until Edward put him down on the floor. I gasped again and turned to face Edward. He smiled my favorite crooked smile and he looked so perfect, I just had to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me back, full force. I pulled away and rested my head on his shoulder.

"So this is what you boys were doing all this time?" I asked.

"Well, this is what I was doing. Emmett and Jasper are..." Edward was cut off by Alice's squeal echoing through the house. Even Max looked up to see what all the noise was. "…correction, Jasper was working on and Emmett still is working on. As you can hear, Alice has just seen Emily's nursery." I smiled and kissed him again.

"Thank you. It's perfect." We stood together, his arms still around me, watching Max play with a rubber duck that was in the box. Max smiled and waved the duck at us.

"Bap! Bap! Bap!" He said, loudly. I giggled and sat cross-legged beside him.

"No Max, a ducky says 'quack! Quack!' not 'bap! Bap!'" He looked at the duck again, and stuck it in his mouth.

"Bap! Bap!" Max said. It was muffled by the duck in his mouth. I giggled again and placed Max on my lap, taking the duck from him. Max frowned and grabbed the duck from my hand.

"Bap…" he mumbled, examining the duck. Edward laughed freely and sat beside me, gently stroking Max's back.

"He acts just like you. So stubborn." Edward said.

"Ha ha, very funny. Come on, let's go see what Alice is doing." I stood up, Max holding onto my neck, and walked out of the room. As I closed the door behind me, I noticed that the letters 'M-A-X' were on the door, painted green. Three other doors were on this floor of the house, each with one of the kid's names on them. 'Emily' was in pink and 'Matt' was in blue. I guessed that the color of the letters had something to do with the color scheme of the rooms.

I knocked on the door of Emily's room gently, and Alice showed up at the door right away. Emily's room was decorated similarly to Max's but with a pink-and-purple color scheme. Alice looked ecstatic to have this room.

"Isn't this the best baby room ever? I mean, for a girl of course. I'm sure Max and Matt's are the best rooms for a boy. And the colors match her outfit! Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen?" Alice was cradling a sleeping Emily in her arms. Emily had on a pink sundress with a purple bow in her hair.

"She's great, Alice. We just wanted to see how you guys were doing?" I said it like a question, hoping they weren't doing much worse than we were.

"We're great! Although, my god can she eat! It seems like the only thing I'm doing with her is feeding and changing her diaper. I hope it gets better soon, because if it doesn't, I will fail. I don't care." Alice said. We both knew she wouldn't do that; it was all talk, no action.

"It will get better, I promise. Soon you will have a bouncing…" Max was hopping up and down in my arms, "… little girl and you wont be able to keep track of her because she will want to run all over the house, naked." I said, referring to Matt. She laughed and shooed us out of the room so that she and Jasper could have some 'alone time' with Emily.

Matt's room was only slightly different from Max's. The walls were blue instead of green and the couch was a light green instead of blue. Matt was asleep in his crib, Rosalie standing over it, stroking Matt's cheek. Edward and I decided to leave them alone instead of disrupting the 'family' moment.

When we got back to Max's room, he started crying out of nowhere. I knew what it was exactly; we had waited all day for this. I was surprised when he didn't cry for this after his bottle. Max needed his diaper changed and Edward was going to have his first lesson. I placed Max on the Cherry-wood changing table with Edward standing closely behind me. I took off Max's jeans and his shirt. Might as well change his clothes while I'm at it, I thought. After I took off the old diaper and put on the new one, Edward handed me an outfit for Max. It was a Boston Red Sox jersey with white pants and red tennis shoes. I laughed and put on the shirt first, then pants, and wrestled him into the shoes. Max had stopped crying instantly when Edward made a strange face at him. Edward crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out. I laughed out loud at how innocent Edward was acting; like he was still a kid.

Emmett poked his head inside the room.

"We're all going to take the kids outside in the backyard. Are you guys coming?" He asked. Edward looked to me, then to Max, then back at Emmett.

"Of course. You want to teach the guys a few tips on baseball?" Edward joked. Emmett laughed and looked at Max.

"Red Sox? You have got to be kidding me! You know only Yankee's fans are allowed in this house!"

"Come on Emmett, you know the Red Sox are better. They won the World Series against your sorry team twice in a row!" Edward said. I walked to the centre of the room and placed Max in front of the rubber duck. He grinned and stuck the duck inside his mouth again. I sat beside him and played absently with the little tuft of brown hair on the top of his head, listening to the boys argue about baseball.

"Your daddy and uncle are loud, huh?" I asked Max. He looked at me and continued to chew on the duck. Then, he crawled through the small space between us and lay his head on my lap, and fell asleep. I laughed and picked him up, placing him in the crib. I turned both of the baby monitors from the shelf next to the crib on and took one with me.

"Guys, could you take this argument somewhere else? Max is trying to sleep." I said. They immediately shut up and vanished to continue the discussion downstairs. I turned on the nightlight, although it was still very light outside, and turned off the overhead light. "Goodnight Max." I whispered.

EDWARD WAS already in our room when I came back. He greeted me with a kiss that escalated to a five minute make out session. He looked very pleased when we finally pulled away from each other.

"You are absolutely amazing." He said against my lips.

"I usually am- but what in particular about this time?" I asked. He smiled, remembering the time he had said the same thing to me.

"About everything. The way you take care of Max… it's like he really is your son. And he really likes you Bella." We both smiled and Edward led me to the black velvet couch. I sat in his lap and he stroked my hair, resting his chin on my head. I sighed and kissed Edward again. He smiled against my lips and kissed me back. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he held me tighter to him. I pulled away slightly, indicating that I needed air. He trailed kisses from the corner of my mouth, down my neck, then back up. He brushed my hair off my shoulder and kissed the space behind my ear. I guided his eyes back to my lips and kissed his with more passion. He parted his lips slightly beneath mine and-

Max started crying, ending our 'discussion'. I picked up the baby monitor from where I had haphazardly thrown it on the floor, and turned it off. I groaned and stood up, only to be pulled back down by Edward.

"Stay here. I will get him this time." I smiled and lay down on the couch. I turned the baby monitor back on so that I could hear what Edward was doing. So that if he tried to eat Max or something, I could save him. Although, I knew that would never happen.

"Shh it's okay; daddy's here now." Daddy? Edward's voice flowed through the speaker and I had to turn it up a little to hear him fully. "There, much better right?" Max had stopped crying and Edward was humming Max's lullaby. I smiled and closed my eyes, hoping to fall asleep. When that didn't work, I moved to the bed, crawling under the covers and snuggling deep into the soft pillows.

Right as I got comfortable, Edward came into the room and climbed into the bed next to me. I curled up under his stone arms.

"What was that tune you were humming to Max?" I said. He sighed and answered.

"Just a tune I thought of. It came into my head the first minute I saw him and I haven't been able to get it out ever since. It's like what happened the first time I saw you." He said.

I DIDN'T really sleep at all that night. Between Edward's soft breath on my neck and the constant thought of Max waking up, I was too paranoid to sleep. I didn't really mind Edward's breath on my neck; I slept like that almost every night. My real worry was Max. I knew that babies woke up a lot during the night but I guess he was past that stage. Max didn't wake up at all.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?" Edward said before kissing me. I yawned and stretched.

"'Morning and I slept well. How did it sound like I slept?" I asked, referring to my sleep talking. He chuckled lightly.

"Good. You were talking about Max. About how you wanted to really adopt him." He said. I felt the blush rising to my cheeks.

"Oh," I said, blushing. I had been thinking a lot about actually adopting Max, but it wouldn't happen for a while. Even though I was eighteen, I was still in high school. I couldn't get a babysitter and I'm sure that the people at the shelter wouldn't let me adopt him until I was out of high school.

Someone knocked on the door to our room and Edward got up to answer it. It was Alice and Emily.

"Hey we were thinking of taking the babies to the clearing today.

Sometime after lunch, though. Esme said not to take them first thing in the morning because they will be cranky. She was right; I already saw it." Alice explained. I thought it was a great idea. Fresh air was good for babies and Max would love the clearing. It had plenty of room for him to move around in.

"Sure, we'll be there." I said. Alice beamed and left the room. I sighed and got out of bed.

"I will be right back. I need to talk with Carlisle really quick." Edward said.

"What do you need to talk to him about?" I asked, pulling off my pajama bottoms and replacing them with a pair of jeans.

"Oh, just something." And he was gone. I laughed lightly and pulled a Hollister jacket over the tank-top I had already changed into. I went up to Max's nursery and he was still asleep, so I decided to check on Matt. Emmett and Rosalie were both in the room; Rose cleaning up a mess on Matt's changing table and Emmett playing with him. I stood in the doorway for a few minutes before I made my presence known.

"Are you guys going to the clearing today?" I asked. They both looked startled to see me there, like their vampire hearing hadn't picked up on my footsteps.

"Yeah, I'm going to teach Matt how to play football!" Emmett said, throwing a Nerf football to Matt. He didn't catch it, but he did run forward to grab it.

"In your dreams." Rosalie scoffed. "There is no way I am letting him play football with you and the other boys. He's a human, Emmett! If he plays football with you, he will get crushed in a tackle." Emmett grinned.

"Relax, Rose. We'll go easy on him, I promise. Right Matt?" Matt laughed and tried to toss the ball to Emmett, missing by a long shot. I smiled.

"Okay, well I guess I have to get Max up. Does Matt sleep through the night?" I asked.

"He did last night, but his attendant said that he gets a lot of nightmares." Rose said.

"Oh, well, I hope doesn't have one while you have him." I said, walking out of the room and back into Max's room. Max was standing up in his crib with a pacifier in his mouth.

"Where did you get this?" I asked, touching the pacifier. He smiled and reached his arms up to me. I laughed and picked him up. "Are you hungry, Max?" He giggled and held his arms tight around my neck, tangling his small hands in my hair. I carried him downstairs and into the kitchen where Esme was at the counter, reading a Home and Gardens magazine. I put Max in one of the high chairs that the guys had set up in the kitchen. Esme looked up and smiled.

"And how is Max doing this morning?" She asked.

"Good," I answered, "but he just woke up." I went to one of the cupboards and pulled out a box of Cheerios, putting a few round pieces on the tray of Max's chair. He picked one up and examined it thoroughly before placing it in his mouth and chewing it with the few teeth he had. Everything sounded quite for a few minutes, until Edward and Carlisle came down the stairs laughing at something one of them had said. I raised an eyebrow at him, but he just smiled and kissed my forehead, then did the same to Max. Max giggled and handed Edward a Cheerio.

"Thank you, Max. But I think it would be better if you ate it." Edward said, feeding Max the cereal. Max laughed again and handed Edward another piece of cereal. I watched the game go on for about ten minutes, until they ran out of Cheerios. Edward grinned and picked Max up out of the high chair, balancing him on his shoulders.

"Be careful," I warned.

"Please, Bella. You and I both know nothing can happen to him on my watch." Edward shrugged off my comment and walked into the living room with Max still on his shoulders. Emmett, Rose, Alice, Jasper, Emily, and Matt were in the room, too. Everyone was lounging around on the various sofas; the kids playing with their toys on the floor. Matt was trying to throw a football to Max, who was pulling himself to a standing position with the help of the leather recliner Carlisle was sitting in. Emily sat in a baby swing, chewing on a teddy bear. As I walked into the room, everyone simultaneously stood up, ready to go to the clearing.

Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Max, and I piled into the Mercedes, Emmett, Rose, and Matt took the Convertible, and Jasper, Alice, and Emily took the Porsche. It amazed me that we had to take three cars to accommodate everybody and all their stuff. Then again, they were small cars.

Once we arrived at the meadow, it took the four guys to haul all of the stuff to where Alice wanted it to be set up. It was very sunny out; the clearest day I've seen all year. All seven of them sparkled, and the kids stared at them, mesmerized. I laughed out loud. That was exactly how I felt the first time I saw Edward in the sun. Edward must have read what I was thinking, because he laughed too.

The boys (and Alice and Rosalie) started a football game; three against three. I watched Matt chase a butterfly and Max crawl after a yellow daisy that was across the field. As long as I could see him, he would be fine. My glance diverted from the boys to the game.

"That's not fair! You can't intercept me because I'm shorter than you!" Alice screeched at Emmett. Emily laughed at Alice.

"Alice, I hate to break this to you, but you are shorter than everyone. It's not that hard to reach something that is five feet above your head." Edward said, laughing along with everyone else. Alice fumed, stomping off the field towards me. She picked up Emily from the grass and set her in her lap.

"Boys," She grumbled, "You'd think they'd go easy on you 'cause your short but nooooo. They just laugh at you. Jeez, I hate my brothers." She cursed under her breath. It was so low that I could barley hear it. I laughed and looked back at the boys. Matt was jumping up, trying to catch the butterfly that had flown out of his reach. Max was still crawling towards the daisy. I had to admit, although he was a mover, Max couldn't crawl very fast. Renee said that I was a really slow crawler right before I learned to walk. Then, once the walking happened, she wished I was crawling again because I would trip over everything. I was a born klutz.

As I wondered when Max would start walking, the boys had taken a break in their game. They were walking to us, laughing and shoving each other. I stood up and walked across the field to get Max. I picked him, and the daisy that he had picked, up and brought him over to the rest of the family. Edward was lying in the grass, so I snuck up behind him. I'm sure that he could have heard me, but he played along with my game and acted surprised when I dropped Max on Edward's legs. Edward laughed and picked Max up by his underarms, swinging him into the air. Max giggled and touched his hands to Edwards's nose. It looked so cute that I snapped a picture of the two with the camera Renee got me for graduation. Edward's eyes flashed to me then back to Max. He set Max back on the ground and Max crawled away, back to patch of flowers he was playing in earlier.

"I didn't know you brought that camera with you." Edward said, gently removing the camera from my hands.

"Yeah, I thought I could get some good pictures to send to Renee. She e-mailed me a few days ago, asking for some new pictures of me and everyone else. I don't know if that included you but…" Then, without warning, Edward snapped a picture of me in mid-sentence. I gasped and tried to grab the camera back from him to delete the picture, with no avail.

"You are so dead!" I yelled as I chased him around the meadow.

"I know I am! Thank you for noticing!" He called back. Our fun was ended when we hear a piercing scream come from where Max was sitting in the grass. But he wasn't where we left him in the patch of flowers. He was by the trees, holding on to a vine of pure thorns. I could even see the blood from where I was standing on the other side of the field. Edward immediately picked me up and ran us over to where Max was sitting in the dead leaves, waving his bleeding hands. I was too scared for my 'child' to react to Edward's running and the smell of the blood. I help Max in my lap and attempted to calm him down while Edward and Carlisle checked out his hands.

"He's going to need stitches. These cuts are very deeps. He clamped down on the larger thorns pretty hard." Carlisle was ripping a cloth from on of our diaper bags into strips. "To stop the bleeding." He explained, wrapping them tightly around Max's hands. At Carlisle's signal, Edward and I stood up and followed him to the cars. We had driven them further into the forest this time, so we didn't have to walk very far.

Carlisle sat in the backseat with me so he could keep the pressure on Max's hands. The screaming had turned into minor tears, and once we reached the hospital it transferred to almost-silent tears. Thanks to Edward's super-fast driving, we made it to the ER in record time. Carlisle took Max from my arms to bring him to the operating room, which started the tears again for both of us. I didn't realize until Max was brought through the doors and down the hallway that I had been crying this whole time. Edward wrapped his stone arms around me and stroked my back. I sobbed into his shirt.

"It's going to be okay, love." He comforted me, "He will be fine." I only wished his words were true.

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**Okay, so it might be a little rushed and mispelled but there you go!! No before i update again I declare... 15 reviews... one more than last time. I know, you can do it!!**

**PRESSS IIITTTT!! VVVV**


	3. Phone calls and messes

**Okay, so here's (took me five tries to type that right) chapter tres!! Sorry it took me soo long to update. I had to edit this way to many times. I hope you like it! **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except Emily and Matt.**

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CHAPTER 3

Max only had to get eight stitches in both hands. They wrapped his hands in gauze to protect the wounds, and it made him look like he was a junior boxer. I started crying again when I saw him; he had on nothing but a diaper and a pacifier. He held out his arms to me and once secure in my grasp, he grabbed my neck so hard that it was getting hard to breathe. After my hug, I handed him to Edward.

"Jeez Max, you really scared us." He said. I rubbed Max's back and stood there while they had their "father-and-son" moment. It only lasted a few minutes until Emmett burst, loudly, through the door.

"Your first set of stitches! Welcome to the club, kid!" He yelled, ruffling the small patch of hair on Max's head. Max laughed, though it was muffled by the pacifier in his mouth.

"Where's everyone else?" Edward asked.

"Right here." Alice stated from the doorway. Carlisle, Jasper, and Rosalie stood with her. Alice immediately ran from the door and gave me a bone-crushing hug. Rosalie joined us, as did the boys.

"Oh my, God, I can't believe that happened! Is Max okay?" Alice asked. I nodded, pulling away from the hug. Edward walked over and stood beside me, Max still in his arms.

"Yeah, he's fine. A few stitches in both hands, but he is fine." I said. Alice tickled Max under his chin and he smiled at her.

"When can he go home?" Rose asked.

"We just have to check him out. The nurse gave us all of the directions and stuff." I answered.

"Then we should be heading back." Carlisle said, "We left Esme with the other two kids and I don't think she can handle Matt for much longer." Everyone laughed at that but Rosalie and Emmett.

"Hey! Matt isn't that bad. So he's a little rambunctious… but whatever. He's a really sweet little kid!" Rose said.

"Ye-yuh! You have no right to be dissin' my kid, yo!" Emmett said in his best 'gangster' voice. I started laughing, which earned me a glare from Emmett.

"Sorry Emmett," I apologized, "that was just really funny."

THE HOUSE WAS completely silent when we got home.

"Esme?" Carlisle called. No answer. He looked back at us, confusion all over his face. And then he was gone. Edward and I walked into the living room with everyone else following us. Again, it was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

"Where is everyone?" Alice asked. I sat down on the couch and sat Max on my lap. Edward sat beside us with Alice on his other side. Carlisle came down the stairs moments later with Esme following him.

"Sorry for the scare everyone," She said, "Both of the babies were upstairs, asleep, and I didn't want to wake them. Oh! And how is Max?" She asked, rushing over to where Max lay, partially on my lap, partially on Edward's. "Aww, look at his little hands! They look like miniature boxing gloves!"

"That's what I thought at first." I said. We all sat and talked for a while about mindless things, until we were interrupted by Emily's cries. Alice stood up to get her, but Jasper pulled her back on the couch.

"I'll get her this time," He said, and ran upstairs. He appeared again only seconds later with Emily, who looked awake and ready for anything. Jasper sat with her on the black leather recliner that Carlisle usually sat in.

"When do we go back to school?" I asked. Since the day we got the kids I had completely lost track of the days.

"Monday." Edward stated simply. He was tickling Max, who giggled happily every time Edward tickled him.

"And Monday is… when?" I asked.

"Not tomorrow, but the next day. So today's Saturday." Rosalie said. She was sitting on Emmett's lap, obviously enjoying the quiet time. Could two days really have already past? Wow... I moved Max's feet from my legs and stood up.

"Bow! Bow!" Max shouted at me.

"Hang on, buddy. I just have to see what time it is." I said, pulling my silver cell phone out of my pocket. It was only 6:00.

"You know, Charlie hasn't seen Max yet. I think we should take him over there." I said to Edward.

"Now?" He questioned.

"Yeah, why not? It'll only be for an hour or two." I said.

"Okay, you get the bag, and I'll get him settled in the car." Edward said. I went into the hallway where you first enter the house and grabbed Max's diaper bag. I ran upstairs to change my shirt, and tripped twice. Emmett laughed from downstairs, and I mentally reminded myself to smack him for that later. After running back downstairs, without falling, I walked out to the Volvo and got in the passenger's side door.

"You ready?" Edward asked. I nodded and put the diaper bag on the floor of the car. I glanced back at Max, who was babbling in his car seat and playing with his feet. He noticed me looking at him and smiled.

"Bow!" He shouted and reached his arms towards me.

"Sounds like you have a new name." Edward chuckled.

"Shut up!" I said.

The cruiser was just pulling into the driveway as we rounded the corner onto my street. Charlie saw us coming and stood outside the door to the house, waiting. Edward parked the Volvo on the curb because there wasn't really any room with my truck and Charlie's car both in the driveway. I got out of the car first and picked up Max from his car seat. Edward walked around the front of the car, at a normal human pace, and walked beside me.

"Hey Bella, Edward." Charlie said, hugging me and shaking hands with Edward. "And who is this?" He bent down a little to see Max better.

"This is Max." I said, "Our "child" for the project."

"Well then. Hi Max." Charlie said. He stuck out his hand, expecting Max to shake it. Instead, Max grabbed Charlie's index finger and stuck it in his mouth. "Okay, tip one: fingers are not food." Charlie pulled his finger from Max's drooly mouth. Max laughed and clapped his hands. "Here, come inside," We followed Charlie into the house and into the living room.

"So dad, what have you been up to?" I asked, sitting on the floor with Max in between my legs. He kept grabbing my shirt, trying to pull himself up, but he fell on his but every time.

"Nothing much, really. I went fishing with Billy the other day. We didn't catch anything, but it was still fun."

"Hey, Charlie, did you see the 'Sox game last week?" Leave it to Edward to bring up sports.

"Yeah, it defiantly wasn't Ortiz's best game."

"Yah! Yah! Yah!" Max shouted, as if he knew what baseball, or even sports, were.

"I couldn't agree with you more, Max." Edward said. The phone in the kitchen rang, and I got up to answer it, thankful for the excuse to get out of this conversation.

"Hello?"

"H-Hey Bella," It was Jacob on the other line. He seemed surprised that I answered the phone. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. What's going on with the pack? How is everyone?"

"Good, we're all fine. Well alive at least." I laughed, "Listen, I was wondering if you would want to come down to La Push tomorrow?"

"I don't know, Jake. I can't just leave Edward-" a growl "-alone with Max. And-"

"Max? Who's Max?"

"Oh, he's our kid." I said nonchalantly.

"WHAT?!" Jake screamed into the phone. "Vampires can't have kids, can they? What the heck? How did you-"

"Relax Jacob!" I said, ending his little rambling moment. "It's for a school project." I explained the project to him, and he calmed down a little bit.

"Jeez Bella, you can't just say 'Oh the leech and I have a kid' without giving a guy the details first."

"Sorry Jake. And don't call Edward a leech." I had reminded him several times of this rule but somehow, he always seems to forget it.

"Okay, okay, sorry. Well why don't you bring him with you? I want to meet the little squirt." Jake laughed a little and I smiled. It was always good to see him happy.

"Alright, Jake, we'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye!" The line went dead and I hung up the phone. Back in the living room, Edward and Charlie had set up a miniature game of baseball and were letting Max run around the "bases" or couch cushions. They were using balled-up socks for a ball and the T.V. remote for a bat. Just as Max ran into the cushion dubbed as "home", Edward lifted him into air and shouted "And it's a home run!" Charlie slapped Max a high-five, and I noticed something that I thought would never happen. They were both laughing, and having a good time together. It was the first time Charlie wasn't glaring at Edward, or Edward wasn't totally uncomfortable in my house because of Charlie.

"Who was on the phone?" Charlie asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Jacob Black." I said. My eyes flashed to Edward and I could tell that it took a lot of will power not to growl or snarl. The same look of disgust crossed his face, though.

"And what did Jacob want?" Edward asked through a clenched jaw. Charlie took notice, but decided not to say anything.

"He just asked if I would bring Max down to La Push tomorrow." I answered, picking Max up from where ha was crawling towards one of the house plants.

"Are you guys hungry?" I silently thanked Charlie, knowing that this wouldn't be the last of what Edward had to say about me going to La Push.

"No, thanks dad. We already ate." No need to tell him that Edward couldn't exactly "eat". I would just get something when we got back to the Cullen's house. I heard music going off, and it took me a minute to realize that it was my cell phone. Edward took Max from my arms and I checked the caller ID. It was Alice calling from her phone.

_"Bella you need to get back here now! Everyone left...and...and...me, Rose, kids! Ah!" _

"Woah, Alice, calm down." She stopped babbling, but it was still hard to hear her over the screaming and crying. And it wasn't just coming from the babies... "Okay, now what's wrong?" I looked over to Edward and Charlie staring at me, concern and worry written on their faces.

_"Everyone went hunting but Rose and I stayed, so we're here with the kids. We think Matt is sick. He has a really high temperature and wont eat anything. And Emily wont stop crying because Matt keeps screaming. We just really need you and Edward here. It's chaos!" _

I realized that I had been holding my breath all this time, so I sighed and let it out. "We'll be right there, Alice. And it sounds like Matt is teething. Try giving him something cold to chew on." I waited as Alice told Rose to get something for Matt.

_"Oh my, God! It worked! How did you know that?" _

"I babysat a lot when I was younger, so I know a thing or two about babies."

_"Thank you so much Bella! Can you still come home though? In case we need you again?" _

"Yeah, we'll be there in a few. Bye!" I hung up the phone and put it back in my pocket.

"What was with Alice?" Edward asked.

"Matt was teething and they didn't know it. She wants us to come back there, though. Sorry for such a short visit, dad, but we have to go."

"It's okay Bells. I'll see you again, right?" He hugged me and shook hands with Edward again.

"Oh, defanitly. Bye Dad!" I said, stepping out the door and walked to the car. Edward put Max in his car seat and walked to the driver's side. He went a little faster than a "normal human walk", but not so fast that Charlie would be suspicious if he was still watching.

"Everyone's out hunting, aren't they?" Edward asked as he speeded down the highway.

"Yeah, Rosalie and Alice were the only ones who didn't need to go." I said, turning up the radio a little. I liked the song that was playing; Breath by Breaking Benjamin **(A/N: LOVE THEM!!) **Max was trying to sing the song, but it sounded like a jumbled mess. Oh well. It was still cute. We got to the house fast, thanks to Edward's speedy driving and I could hear the screaming from where I stood outside the car in the driveway. Just as I was about to open the car door, Edward had it open in a flash.

"Thanks," I said, stepping out. He shut the door and pinned me against it. He kissed my lips gentlyand my heart started beating erratically. I kissed him back, not to forceful but just enough. He smiled under my lips and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He started kissing my collar bone and-

"Bad!" Max shouted from his car seat, which was still in the car.

"I'm so sorry, Max! We didn't mean to forget you!" I lifted him out of the car and took Edward's hand in my own. "He has to sleep sometime." I whispered. Edward grinned and leaned in to kiss me again.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen and Isabella Marie Swan! Get both of your asses in here now, or there will be some serious damage done!!" Alice screamed from inside the house. Sometimes I wonder how such a loud scream could come from such a short person. Inside the house was a compleate disaster. It was a mess of toys, bottles, clothes, and pillows. Alice appeared before us in a flash, feeding Emily a bottle. The house was silent, except for some sound coming from the television.

"I thought you said it was chaos here?" I asked.

"Are you blind, woman? Do you not see this mess? It _was _chaos. That cold thing really helped Matt. He went right to sleep." Alice said. Emily had fallen asleep, so Alice put the bottle on the coffee table and sat down with Emily on the couch. I put Max down on the floor to play with the toy truck he was eyeing suspiciously.

"So, what do we do now?" Edward asked, sitting on the couch. Well, more like moving clothes and other items from the couch and then sitting down. I sat on his lap and lay my head on his shoulder. It had been a long day and I could tell I wasn't the only one who was glad it was over.

"You know, the others are going to be here soon. In less than a minute..." Just as Alice said that, Emmett, Jasper, Carlisle, and Esme came into the house. They were laughing at some joke Carlisle told, but froze when they reached the living room.

"Oh my, god! My house!" Esme screeched, seeing the mess. "What happened? It looks like Babies 'R Us threw up in here!"

"Well, we had a little difficulty taking care of the kids. Matt was teething and Emily wouldn't stop crying. It was a really long night." Rosalie explained. I hadn't seen her come down at all, but now she magically appeared beside Alice.

"Just clean it up, now." Esme said, walking into the kitchen.

"Nice going, guys." Emmett said, laughing.

"Seriously, how hard is it to take care of two kids? You read them a story, they go to sleep, and BAM! You're done!" Jasper said, laughing along with Emmett. They both started walking upstairs, but in a flash Rosalie was pulling them down again.

"Your kids made the mess. Now you will help us clean up." The boys were groaning, but they helped nevertheless. I watched as they cleaned at top speed and were done in a matter of seconds. Even though, I've seen them run a million times, it still suprised me how fast things got done. I looked to where we left Max and he was sitting on the floor staring at the four vampires in awe and suprise. I laughed aloud at his face.

"What's so funny, love?" Edward asked, sitting beside me.

"That's exactly how I felt the first time I saw you running." I said, pointing to Max. Edward chuckled quietly then walked over to Max and picked him up. He yawned and rested his head on Edward's shoulder. I smiled and rubbed Max's back. "Long day, huh buddy?" He sighed.

"I have an idea." Edward said, getting up and walking over to the piano. I followed them, and I noticed that everyone had left. Edward sat down with Max in his lap, and lifted the cover to reveal the gorgeous ivory keys. His hands fluttered over them for a second, then this melody flowed from his fingers that left me speechless. I quickly reconized the song as the lullaby he was huming to Max earlier. I sat beside Edward on the bench and watched as Max slowly fell asleep on his lap. Then, I felt myself drifting, and dreaming.

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	4. Jacob

**Okay, so here's chapter four! Thank you thank you thank you all for the reviews. I love them all, even if I don't reply to all of them. The song in this chapter is 'Return to Pooh Corner' by Kenny Loggins. OH! I finally found pictures of all the kids!! The link is on my profile. Okay, I'll stop talking now, so you can enjoy the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Matt and Emily. I also don't own the song used in this chapter.**

**Soundtrack: Ohio is for Lovers...Hawthorne Heights. I love this song!! Thinking about doing a songfic to it...but I'm still skepical.**

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CHAPTER FOUR

I woke up in the middle of the night sweating with my breathing out of control. I had had a nightmare about the Volturi coming and killing Edward and all the Cullens. I tried to stop them by sacraficing myself, but it was too late. I was always too late. I had been having the same dream on and off for the past week, but thought nothing of it. I was just stressed. I reached beside me to find Edward, but only felt the air.

"Edward?" I called softly, knowing he could hear me wherever he was. I pulled the blanket off my legs and stepped on to the soft carpet, walking across the room and into the hallway. "Edward?" I called again. I walked up the stairs to the three baby rooms but stopped about halfway when I heard this beautiful music coming from one of the rooms.

_Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do  
Got a honey jar stuck on his nose  
He came to me asking for help and advice  
And from here no one knows where he goes  
So I sent him to ask of the Owl if he's there  
How to loosen a jar from the nose of a bear_

I walked further and realized the sound was coming from the third room; Matt's. The door was cracked open, so I peeked inside and saw Rosalie sitting with Matt in the wooden rocking chair, singing to him. Matt had a Pooh Bear doll curled up under his arm. It looked old and one of the eye's was missing. I was amazed at how well Rose was singing; it left me speechless. Again.

_It's hard to explain how a few precious things  
Seem to follow throughout all our lives  
After all's said and done I was watching my son  
Sleeping there with my bear by his side  
So I tucked him in, I kissed him and as I was going  
I swear that the old bear whispered  
"Boy welcome home"_

I kept listening until the song was over, then I stepped away from the door as quietly as possible. But, of course, with her enhanced hearing, she caught me.

"You can come in, Bella." I walked into the room, my face red from embarrassment.

"Sorry, I was just looking for Edward." I apologized. She smirked.

"Him and Alice went out hunting. They really needed to."

"Oh, thanks." I started waliking back out the door, but she stopped me.

"Hey Bella? Are you still going to be changed?" Rosalie asked.

"I want to, but I know Edward dosn't want me to. So, I honestly don't know. Maybe, maybe not. We'll just have to see what happens." I said, sitting on the couch. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering. Can I ask you another question?" I nodded. "Are you guys going to adopt Max?" I had been thinking about adopting him, but was to shy to ask Edward what he thought about the idea.

I sighed. "It would be nice having a child but I don't think Edward is up for it. I haven't asked him, though. You and Emmett should adopt Matt. He loves you guys, and you always said that you wanted kids." She smiled.

"I think we are. Emmett actually suggested it. He loves this little guy. We might wait until after graduation, though. Then just skip collage. I mean, it's not like we've never been before." I laughed. Matt yawned, still asleep, and clutched his teddy bear tighter.

"That was a pretty song. Where did you learn it?" I asked.

"I heard it on the radio once. I always like the lyrics to it, so I memorized it. It reminded me of when I was human and wishing to have children. That's why we're adopting Matt. So we can actually feel human again." I let that sink in for a moment before I said anything else. I slightly wondered if it would be the same way once I was a vampire; wishing, wanting, to be human again.

"You might not feel the same once Edward changes you. But then again, you might. And if you do, just come to me and we can cry our dead hearts out together." I smiled. It was nice to see Rosalie acting so caring towards me. It was definitely a change from the cold, hard stares she usually gave me.

"Thanks Rose." I said, getting off the couch and walking to the door. Unexpectedly, Rosalie pulled me into a tight hug, then released me. I didn't even see her get up and put Matt in his crib.

"Seriously, Bella, I'm here for you too. I may not show it too often, but it's true." I thanked her again and walked down the stairs thinking, _"Okay, Jasper, enough with the lovey-dovey feelings now." _And I swear I heard him chuckle.

I WAS ANXIOUS the next morning when I remembered that I had made plans with Jacob for today. I haddn't seen him, or the rest of the pack, in a while. After eating, and attempting to get Max to eat something, I left him with Edward and went upstairs to change my clothes. I couldn't decide what to wear, so I settled on a black tank-top and a pair of jeans. It was going to be warm today, but not too hot. Let's face it; this is Forks, it's never hot here. Thank God Alice The Weather Person was here to give me a play-by-play of today's forcast. I walked back downstairs and got everything Max needed ready. Everything was still in place, aside from a few bottles and clothes. Edward watched me the whole time I was getting ready, giving me a dissaproving stare. Finally, I gave up and went to sit in his lap on the couch.

"Will you please stop being so Mr. Negative about this? You know Jake is a nice guy and won't do anything to hurt me, or Max." I kissed him. "And even if he does, I can fight for myself. I don't have to have muscle to take down that werewolf." He grimaced and I kissed him again.

"Okay, fine. Just promise me something?" Edward asked. I nodded. "The first thing you do when you get home is take a shower. You always smell like dog when you hang out with him."

"Deal." I said. He kissed me again, making it long and deep. "Bye." I wispered.

"Bye. Have fun." He said, although I could tell he didn't really mean it. I picked up Max, the bag, and my keys and headed outside to the truck. It started noisly, like always, but Max didn't seem to mind. I tuned the radio to one of my favorite stations and pulled out of the long driveway.

The drive to La Push seemed shorter than I remembered, but once I got there it took me a few minutes to find Jacob's house. He was standing outside on the porch when I pulled up and a grin instantly flashed on his face when he saw me. I took Max, still in his car seat, and ran up to Jake. He took me in a bone-crushing hug and I actually couldn't breathe for a minute.

"Jake- need- air!" I gasped. He let me go, and I took deep breaths.

"Sorry Bella. I was just really happy to see you. How are you?" He asked.

"I'm good, depite the fact I can't breathe. You?"

"I'm fine." He laughed, and bent down to see Max, who was sitting on the ground in his carseat. "And this is Max?" I nodded. Max barked at Jake and clapped his hands. Jacob gave me a curious look and I shrugged.

"Edward called you a dog, so he must have thought you were an actual dog that barks and all that stuff." I guessed. Jake rolled his eyes and patted Max's head.

"Not that kind of dog, kid." He said. "So, do you want to come inside?" I nodded and followed him into the small house. It haddn't changed at all since the last time I saw it.

"Where is everyone? It seems so quiet here."

"They're all down at the ocean. The guys are going cliff diving. They wanted me to come along but I told them I had already made plans." He sounded a little dissapointed when he said the last sentence so I thought it over. Watching people jump fifty feet off a cliff into freezing cold water with sharp rocks didn't excatly sound like fun, but if he wanted to go I suppose we could.

"Why don't we go down there? I would love to go on the beach." I said. He instantly perked up and rushed into his room to change. I laughed and blalanced Max on my knees. "Your Uncle Jake is crazy isn't he?" I asked. Max giggled and reached up with his hand to grab my nose.

"Hey! I'm not crazy!" Jake said, walking back into the living room. I laughed and stood up.

"Are you finally ready?" I asked.

"Yes, let's go!" He raced out the door and into his car. His car was a jet-black Audi R8 V12 TDI, or in other words, a sports car. **(picture in profile)**It looked expensive, like something one of the Cullens would buy. "Do you like it? I sold the other car and since it was a classic, some guy gave me a hell of a lot of money for it. So i bought this one."

"Wow, it's nice." I said. I was used to seeing fancy German sports cars, so I tried to fake my excitement. "Let me just grab Max's car seat and we can go."

WE GOT TO the beach a lot faster in this car. It might of been because Jacob was speeding, but then again, it might just be a really fast car. The cliffs were so high, that I could see the guys standing on top of them before we even reached the sand. Jake parked the car right on the sand, and we went to sit with Emily, Leah, Seth and Embry. They had set up a small fire and were tossing peices of wood into it. Leah was pouting with her usual "I-reall-don't-want-to-be-here-because-I'm-better-than-you" look. The others must have notice we were here, because they all came running at us at top werewolf speed. Paul stopped suddenly, which caused Quil to knock into him, which, of course, caused an argument. Sam rolled his eyes and slapped them both in the back of the head.

"Will you two shut up? That's the fifth fight you've had today!"

"Sorry," They mumbled, sitting next to the fire. I looked over and Max and Jacob were having a sand fight. Well, Max was throwing sand at Jake and he was trying to block it. I laughed silently and carved my name into the sand. I attempted to make it as graceful and elegant as Edward's handwriting, but failed. Jake brushed the sand off him and Max and sat beside me in the sand.

"So are you having fun?" He asked.

"Yes, I am. I have to admit, this is much better than sitting around the house all day. And Max really likes the sand." Jacob shook his head and sand and water flew everywhere.

"Hey, dog-face! Whatch it!" Leah yelled.

"Well if he likes the sand, I wonder how he'll like the water." Then, in one quick movement, Jake had picked up Max and was running into the ocean.

"Jacob, get back here! That water is probably freezing!" I yelled. Every one was laughing at us and Sam stood up.

"Then why don't you find out?" Before I knew what was going on, he had thrown me in the water near Jacob and Max. The water was up to my hips, but only to Jacob's knees. I stood up and shivered. The water was cold, but not as freezing as I thought it would be. Jacob looked shocked for a minute then started laughing like a maniac.

"Shut up. Just remember, I have to get into your new car soaking wet." He stopped laughing. I smirked and he smiled. He held Max in the water and let him splash around for a while before we all walked back to shore.

"So, how's the water?" Sam joked. I glared at him and squeezed the water out of my hair right on top of his head. "Yeah, I deserved that."

"Bow?" Max said, reaching his arms up to me from where he sat in the sand. I realized that he had gone swimming with all of his clothes on, so I exused myself to the car so I could change him. The only other outfit in the diaper bag was a pair of jeans and a green jumper. After I changed Max, I put on the jumper, then put the jeans over it.

"So, what have you guys been up to lately?" I asked, sitting back down with Max. It was getting dark out, but it was only twilight. I still had a while before Edward would be all over for me for not coming home early.

Paul snickered and said, "Claire just started pre-school. Only fifteen more years to go, isn't that right Quil?"

"Shut up." Quil said, glaring at Paul who was having a hard time keeping his laughter in. I had to keep my hand over my mouth so Quil wouldn't see that I was laughing also.

"Okay, guys, be serious. There have been a few drastic crimes up in Tacoma, so we have been extra cautious." This was the first time I was hearing of this, which ment Alice was hiding something from us.

"Really?" I asked. Sam nodded.

"I thought you would have knew about it by now, with what's-her-name over there. You know, the one that's psycic?"

"Alice." I said. I hated it when they forgot the Cullen's names, but I tried not to mention them that much, so I kind-of expected it.

"Yeah, her."

"So what kind of crimes were these?" I asked. This time, it was Jacob's turn to answer.

"Break-in's and murders." He answered, "In the city, they found a few broken windows in some buildings and when they went to check it out, nothing was stolen but there like five or six dead bodies _compleatly drained of blood." _He directed the last part right at the Cullen's.

"Jacob, you know they wouldn't do that. They aren't like that." I defended.

"I know, I know, but where else would it come from? They are the only one's of their kind in this area."

"It could just be some newborns like last time! Or just some nomads stopping in. You don't know it's them." Jacob shut up after that. Everyone did. No one ever dared to mess with me while I'm pissed off about something I really care about.

"Okay, Bella, just calm down. We know it wasn't the Cullens, Jacob is just an idiot. Just know that Edwin will be a bit more protective over you once he finds out." Sam said.

"_Edward_," I corrected, "and that's fine with me."

WE LEFT shortly after that little conversation. Jacob drove us back to his house, we said a fast 'hi' and 'bye' to Billy, then I brought a sleeping Max out to my truck.

"Thanks, Jake. I had a great time today." My teeth chattered a little because I was still wet and it was cold outside.

"You're welcome. Don't be afraid to just drop in. We wont bite." I chringed at his choice of words. I rolled my eyes and climbed into the driver side of the car. I waved 'bye' to him, pulled out onto the street, and headed home.

Edward was waiting by the door when we got home. He took Max for me, kissed me on the cheek and led me inside.

"Bella, why are you soaking wet?" He asked. I shrugged.

"I got thrown in the ocean." His marble brow furrowed into a confused look. "We went to the beach and I got thrown in the water by Sam. And Max went swimming too, but I had extra clothes to change him." I said, walking up the stairs and only tripping twice.

**EPOV (A/N: So here's a little bit of what Edward is thinking. Enjoy!)**

I watched my love as she walked up the stairs and disappered into the hallway. I looked at the sleeping child in my arms and had to smile. He was the second most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. And that is saying something, considering I'm 108 years old. I ran Max up to his room and sat with him in my lap on the couch. He sqwirmed a little, but didn't wake up. I lay back on the couch and thought about how much differen't life would be with Max around all the time. It was great as it is, but once the two weeks are up I don't know if I'm going to be able to give him back. I love Max like my son, and I can tell that he loves me too. I have to talk to Bella about actually adopting him once the project is over.

Max sqwirmed again, and this time he woke up. He cried for a while, but nothing was wrong with him. He didn't need to be changed or fed and he wouldn't let me put him down. I ran my fingers through my hair and thought of something I could do to calm Max down. I started humming his lullaby and his cries calmed down a little. The lullaby made me think of the song Rosalie showed to me a while ago.

_So, help me if you can I've got to get  
back to the house at Pooh corner by one  
You'd be surprized there's so much to be done,  
count all the bees in the hive,  
chase all the clouds from the sky .  
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh_

"What is it with you people and that song?" I was shocked at Bella's voice. I didn't hear her come in the room, but there she stood at the door. I grinned and placed Max in his crib.

"What is it with you and being so beautiful?" I asked wrapping my arms around her. She lay her head on my chest and I kissed the top of her head. I watched as she grinned evily and bent her head up to kiss me on the lips. The kiss was passionate and last way longer than it should have. I smiled under her lips and held her tighter to me. Finally, she pulled away gasping for air.

"He had to fall asleep sometime." Bella said, leading me down the stairs and into our bedroom.

* * *

**Well, hope you enjoyed Edward's Pov. There will be more of it in later chapters, just be paitent!**

**REVIEW por favor!!**


	5. Back to school

**Okay so here's the long awaited chapter five! Sorry it took forever to get this up. School started last week so I've been extremely busy. So enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Emily and Matt. The information in this chapter is real and all credit goes to the site I used. **

IT IS ENTIRELY impossible to get myself and Max ready for school in only two hours in the morning. That is one conclusion that took major experience to figure out. Today was the day we had to go back to school. Mr. Banner sent out a letter to all of the "families" describing how the week would go. Monday and Tuesday we only had to go to Biology for two hours, but we had to bring our "kids" with us. Wednesday through Friday we had to find a daycare or a babysitter and had to attend all of our classes. The good part was that if you couldn't afford either, the school had a temporary day care set up outside. Also, both of the parents had to keep a journal and write an entry for every day of the week. So I guess this project wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Edward and I figured out that waking Max up at seven in the morning is not the best idea. First he fell asleep at breakfast, then again when I was trying to dress him, then again when Edward was playing with him. After the third time, I finally gave up waking him up and just let him sleep. It was a long night and I was exhausted just as much as he was. Max had woken up at one thirty-five in the morning and crawled out of his crib and down the stairs. Apparently, Edward and I left the door open a crack, because Max walked into the room without having to use the doorknob. Yeah, he walked. I was surprised when Edward first told me this, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. Edward picked Max up, but as soon as he got out the door Max started crying. So, Edward brought him to bed with us, woke me up, and lay back down. But Max didn't want to go to sleep. Oh, no; he wanted to play. He jumped on the bed, crawled over me and Edward, fell off the bed twice, and, after two hours, fell asleep on Edward's legs. I drifted back to sleep about an hour later, but I only got in another five hours of sleep did me no justice at all. Edward on the other hand….

"Are you ready to go, love?" He asked as I was coming down the stairs in Edward's forest-green hoodie and a pair of jeans. My hair was down and looking good for once. I felt Edward's eyes on my as I walked, so I swayed my hips a little to tease him. Alice and Rose already had their kids ready and awake, and were waiting on me. I knelt beside Max and unwrapped the bandages on his right hand. The gauze wasn't a mini boxing glove on him anymore; now it was just little mittens. We had to change them twice a day, usually I the morning and right before bed.

"Could you do his other hand?" I asked Edward, and he had it done before I could finish the sentence. "Thanks."

"Hey Bella, we have a pool going on how long of a detention Banner is going to give you and Edward. Are you in?" I ignored his question, yawned, and then walked to the door with Max and his car seat in one hand and my backpack in the other.

"What's her problem?" I heard Emmett whisper to Edward.

"It, err, was a long night." He said. Emmett boomed with laughter, obviously thinking we were doing something completely the opposite of actuality.

"Shut up, Emmett." Edward growled. I snickered and pulled the backseat door open to the Volvo. Buckling the car seat into the base was second nature to me now; it was so simple now, which made it easier for us to get out the door. I climbed into the passengers' seat of the car and listened to the quiet purr of the engine. Unfortunately the quiet was interrupted by the roar of Emmett's jeep.

"Is he seriously taking Matt to school in that death trap?" I asked, wondering how they got the off-roading harness over car seat.

"Apparently so," Edward answered. "I'm sure they have Matt and Emily safely secured in it, though."

"Matt and Emily? How can they fit everyone in there?" I distinctly remembered the jeep to be very small and cramped, even with only four people in the car.

"That, love, is a question even I can't answer."

THERE WERE ONLY three words to describe the way the gym was when we got there: loud, crowded, and loud (hey, I didn't say they were three different words, now did I?). Max was woken up by the noise before we even opened the doors and Matt had his ears covered. Emily was oblivious to the noise as she was too distracted by Jasper's hand on the bar of her car seat. Every time Emily went to grab his fingers, Jasper would move them out of the way to another part of the bar. They quickly made a game out of it and were absorbed in it for about five minutes.

"Ah Ms. Swan and Mr. Cullen, here are you journals and remember this is half of your final grade." Mr. Banner said as we reached the table he was sitting at. He handed Edward two black and white composition books and shooed us off. We waited for Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rose to get theirs too, and then we found a seat where all of us could sit together near the front of the gymnasium on the bleachers. We passed Mike and Angela on the way to our seats and I giggled when I saw what their kid was doing. It was climbing all over Mike, trying to get to his spiky hair. Angela was laughing as well, so I assumed they were only having a semi-terrible time together on this project.

"So, I say after this we take the kids to the park?" Alice said balancing Emily on her legs and shaking her leg so the Emily bounced up and down. She giggled and every time she almost fell off, Alice would catch her by her dress (which was perfectly matched with a hat, bottoms, and shoes by the fashion police herself) and drag her back onto her lap.

"I second the motion!" Emmett said. He had put Matt onto the floor and now he was throwing a Nerf football on the ground about two feet away from him then running to catch it and start all over again.

"Do you want to go to the park, Max?" I asked him. Edward had Max standing up on his shoulders and, surprisingly, I wasn't worried at all. It was partly because I knew nothing could happen to him with five vampires around, and partly because I trusted Edward with mine, and Max's, dear life.

"Bap?" He asked.

"I don't know. Alice, is there a pond there?"

"Yeah, and we can feed the ducks! Oh, it will be so much fun!" She clapped and caught Emily just before she tumbled to the ground.

"Bap!" Max cried again.

"Yes, Max, there will be ducks." I reassured him. Edward held his hands and helped him do a front flip over his head and land on the ground on his feet. About ten minutes later, Mr. Banner came up to the podium set up at the front of the room and spoke into the microphone. I thanked the microphone gods that the mic didn't screech because a gymnasium full of crying babies would have reeked more havoc on my ears than sitting next to the speakers at a heavy metal rock concert.

"Students, welcome back!" Mr. Banner started, "Stanley, how was your first three full days of being a parent?" Jessica stood up in the back of the room and sighed.

"It was… hard. The kid never stops crying and it never sleeps either! Ugh, you have no idea what this is doing to my hair. It is beyond the point of returning to its natural state. Oh, and the little thing threw up on me. Twice." A few kids snickered at her speech. I just rolled my eyes; she was always so dramatic.

"Uh, thanks Ms. Stanley. Emmett Cullen, what is your take on the subject?" Emmett stood and grinned.

"I actually couldn't be better. Matt is a really good baby and he sleeps through the night so we are getting full nights of sleep. Unlike someone," Emmett said, pointing his thumb towards Jasper, who now had Emily on his arms.

"Shut up Emmett! At least my kid doesn't run around the house naked!" Alice yelled, kicking Emmett in the shin. Emmett laughed and sat back down.

"O-kay, anyone else want to say anything?" Mr. Banner asked. No one raised their hands or said anything. "Alright, then lets get this show on the road so we can get out of here. So, how many of you have jobs?" Almost everyone's hands shot up. Others, like Lauren's and Jessica's stayed down. Apparently, daddy pays for everything. "Now how many of you have jobs that can pay for a weeks worth of grocery's?" Some hands went down, "A weeks worth of groceries and diapers?" Some more went down, "Week of groceries, diapers, formula, and gas?" Only three hands remained. "Now where do you people work? I can barley pay for all of that!" Mr. Banner chuckled then continued with his speech.

"No, seriously, being a teenage parent is one of the hardest things you could ever do. Teen mothers seventeen and under pay, on average, 4,080 a year. And as that child grows up, you'll wish you were paying that much instead of 7,000 a year. And any of you who think this is just a stupid project and you can't wait to give these kids back, think twice. Half of the pregnancies that happen every year are unplanned. That's almost three million unplanned kids. Twenty-two percent of women under twenty who have an unplanned pregnancy are unmarried. That's 653,000 women or young girls who cannot give their babies back no matter how bad they want to. There are a lot of risks that come with an unplanned pregnancy. Like, most babies of unplanned or teen births are born with physical or mental issues. They are twice as likely to drop out of high school; two-and-a-half times more likely to become teen parents; 1.4 times more likely to be out of school and work for more than eight months, and five times more likely to be poor. They have a lower grade-point average and very poor attendance when it comes to school.

"Now don't think this is all on the girls. Oh no. Without dads, kids are twice as likely to do drugs and drink alcohol, twice as likely to go to jail, and twice as likely to need emotional or behavioral help. Now guys, you wouldn't want your little girl getting pregnant at seventeen, would you? Well, that's what might happen if you aren't there. Do you not get it people? This is what might happen even if you only have sex once!" Mr. Banner's voice was rising and you could tell he was really passionate on the subject. He had made some pretty interesting points about the risks of an unplanned pregnancy. I never knew that all that could happen just from one mistake.

"Okay another exercise. How many of you believe in abstinence?" Everyone's hand went into the air. I knew that most of the people here were only putting their hand up so that they wouldn't be embarrassed by everyone finding out their secret. "Everyone close your eyes. From here on in, this is a blind poll." We did as we were told and I dazed as I listened to Mr. Banner rattle off questions. "How many of you are actually practicing abstinence? How many of you believe in abortion?" I took my hand down. Never would I take a human life for my own personal satisfaction. "This one is only for the guys. How many of you would stick around if you got your girlfriend of two months pregnant? Okay you may open your eyes now. I won't reveal the results but I may sneak in the percentages into part of my speech, but don't worry I will not disclose any names. Well, it's about time to go for today. Don't forget to take your journals and write in them every night for the rest of this project. And you go back to your regular schedule on Wednesday." I couldn't believe two hours was up already. I thought this was going to be boring and drag on forever, but it went really fast.

"Ready to go, love?" Edward had Max and the diaper bag already in his right arm and was offering his left hand out to me. I nodded and held his hand for support.

"Hey, do we have a stroller for Max?" I asked as we got into the parking lot. It was still overcast, but better than it was this morning.

"Yeah, it's in the trunk. Alice bought him one." I smiled and climbed into the passenger seat of the Volvo. After getting Max settled, Edward got into the drivers seat and started the car.

"So where is this park that we're going to?" I asked, leaning over the armrest to rest my head on Edward's arm.

"You'll see." I closed my eyes and drifted until I felt the car stop. "We're here Bella." Edward and everyone else already had their kids out of the car and in the strollers. I got out of the car and stretched, then pushed Max's stroller towards the entrance of the park. The large sign next to the gate said "Welcome to Stony Creek Park!" in white letters. I had been here once with Charlie when I was little and Charlie was trying to teach me to fish. I fell in the pond and lost more than half of my hooks in the trees. Needless to say, it was not a pleasant experience. I winced at the memory.

"What's wrong?" Edward asked, noticing my movements.

"I came here once with Charlie and fell in the pond." Emmett laughed quietly and I glared at him. Edward's arms snaked around my waist and he kissed my neck and collar bone gently.

"I won't ever let you fall." He said, still kissing me. I blushed and pushed the stroller to the little playground that was in the park. Matt took off running the minute he was out of the stroller with Rosalie right on his heels.

I picked up Max and let him walk a couple steps on the mulch. He fell once, but got right back up and started running to the swings. Edward sneaked up behind him and threw Max into the air, catching him and setting him on his lap on the swing. I snuck my camera out of the diaper bag and quickly took a picture before Edward noticed it. He looked up when the flash went off and smirked, then went back to playing with Max. I walked around the park and took random pictures of the others and their kids. When I got back to where the swings were, Edward and Max were no longer there. I was just about to go looking for them when I felt a tap on my shoulder and the camera being taken out of my hand.

"Smile!" Edward said, holind the camera in front of him so we were all in the frame. I rubbed my eyes after the flash blinded me and took the camera back from Edward.

"Thanks. I didn't need to see, honest." I said sarcastically. He chuckled and kissed me on the forehead.

"Quiet, you. You know you'll thank me for it later." I leaned into his chest and played with Max's bare toes. He giggled and grabbed my hand.

"Bella!" Max said, holding my finger in the air. Neither Edward or I reacted to it until he said it again.

"Did he just-?" Edward started, but stopped mid-sentence. I nodded.

"He just talked!" I squeeled. Wait a minute! Did I just squeal? "Say it again Max! Say Bella!"

"Bella!" Max copied me, holding my finger in the air again.

"Aw! Good job, Max! Who's that?" I asked, freeing my finger and pointing to Edward. Max looked confused and looked from Edward to me, then from me to Edward.

"Daddy!" Max finally said. Edward's eyes went wide in shock and if he could have fainted, I'm sure he would have (A/N: Can vampires faint? In my world, they can't so...yeah).

"Daddy?" He said, coming back to reality.

"What's going on guys?" Alice said, walking over to us with the rest of the Cullens following her. Emmett was holding Matt by the ankles and Matt was laughing hysterically.

"Max is calling Edward "Daddy"." I said, trying to cover up a laugh.

As if to prove it, Max said "daddy" again and reached to Edward. Emmett laughed and set Matt on his feet. His face was red and he was still laughing like a maniac.

"Emmett, what's up with your kid?" I asked.

"Uhm, yeah. He's hyper." Rosalie groaned.

"You gave him chocolate again, didn't you?!" She said. Emmett grinned sheepishly.

"It was just an Oreo. I didn't think it would make him go crazy."

"Yeah, well apparently it did!" I placed my free hand over my mouth to keep from laughing, but sadly enough, it didn't work. Emmett glared at me.

"Just wait.. and learn to sleep with your eyes open." He said in a menacing tone. Edward growled beside me and I felt my eyes go wide. We knew he was just joking but it was still scary to see him like that. Emmett laughed, loudly as ever, and clapped my back. I almost fell over, but Edward caught me, and Max, in time.

"Okay, come on! We're never going to get to the pond if you two don't stop messing around!" Alice said, kicking Emmett in the shin. We all agreed and moved our stuff to the edge of the small lake that was in the middle of the park. Two other families were there; one with a little girl, about Max's age, and one with a boy and a girl who I presumed to be twins. Alice stopped to buy each of us a bag of duck food. It was little brown pellets in a brown paper bag, and it reminded me of what I would feed the hamster I had when I was six. We decided to all go to different parts of the lake, so all the ducks wouldn't come at once. And there were a lot of ducks. They were swarming the lake, looking for food.

"Bap!" Max called as he saw the ducks. I took him out of the stroller and set him on the grass.

"Do you want to give the ducks some food Max?" Edward asked. Max grinned and wobbled over to Edward. He put some food in Max's little hand, then cupped his own around it. They walked to the edge of the pond and Edward helped Max throw the food in the water. The look on Max's face was priceless when the ducks swam up to them. It was like we had just given him the best present a kid could ever want. Edward brought Max back to where I was sitting at one of the little stone benches by the pond. Max wriggled out of Edward's grasp and walked around in the grass babbling about ducks. Edward wrapped his arm around my shoulders and I leaned into his embrace. We sat like that watching Max play for a few minutes before Edward spoke.

"Bella, what do you think about adopting Max?" He asked. I was shocked by the question, and didn't speak at first. Then I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips.

"Oh Edward! I would love to" And I kissed him again.

"Bad!" Max called. I laughed and imagined what life was going to be like with Max in it for good.

**So there you go! Review please? Thanks. **


	6. Answers

**Bella POV**

While Edward was talking to Carlisle about the adoption, I was watching Max and writing in the journal at the same time. Max was running around his room looking at all the colors on the walls.

_May 14, 2007_

_This project is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Max is an amazing child and I don't think any single person could love him as much as Edward and I do. That is why we have decided to adopt Max after school lets out. Carlisle and Esme said they would help us out with watching him while we go to the community college but I don't know how my dad will react to the news..._

I stopped and thought about that for a minute. Charlie would not like the idea of having Max for a grandson permanently, especially with us being so young. Although, Charlie didn't know that Edward wasn't as young as he seemed. I made a mental note to talk to Edward later about it, and watched Max try to run out of the room. Out of nowhere, Edward swooped in and caught him before he went tumbling down the stairs. Max was spooked; you could tell by the expression on his face. Edward smiled down at him and Max's look of terror was replaced by one of joy.

"So what did Carlisle say?" I asked. Edward sat on the couch beside me and set Max back on the floor.

"He said that he would talk to Charlie about the adoption. If everything goes as planned, which I'm sure it will, then Carlisle will take us to Seattle and co-sign the adoption papers. He said that we might have to wait a while, too. These things don't happen overnight." I put my head on his shoulder and looked up into his eyes.

"Yeah, but I'm sure they'll let us keep him. That is, if we don't fail this project." Edward laughed slightly and we fell into a silence, watching Max play with his toys.

"Duck," Max said, holding up his favorite yellow rubber duck.

"Yes Max, that is a duck. What does the duck say?" I asked, leaning forward a little.

"Bap!" He yelled. Edward laughed and gently corrected Max.

"No the duck say 'quack'"

"Bap." Max said, and that was that. We didn't say another word on the subject. I leaned back against the couch and stretched my arms out in front of me.

"Are you hungry? You haven't eaten since this afternoon." I hadn't been hungry until Edward said something, but now that it was brought to my attention, my stomach growled.

"Sure. We should feed Max too." Edward nodded once and picked up Max, and the duck. I grabbed his free hand and used it to guide me down the stairs. "So what will you have?" He set Max in his high chair with a spill-proof cup of water. Max transitioned from bottle to cup really well, almost as if he was ready and willing to give it up. He was doing a lot more things by himself now; climbing the stairs was his current goal. He wasn't very far, of course, and usually by the second step we had to help him.

"Hmm... I'm in the mood for a salad." I sat on the counter and watched as Edward got out all the necessary ingredients. Alice walked into the kitchen with Emily just as he was finishing.

"Hey guys," She said, reaching into the cabinet to get a can of baby formula.

"Hello. What are you doing?" I asked. She placed Emily on the counter and ran a bottle under the water that was flowing from the faucet.

"Alice!" I said, setting my hand on Emily's stomach.

"What?" She turned around.

"You can't just leave her on the counter! What if she rolled off?" Alice had a blank look on her face for a second, and I knew she was having a vision.

"Ha, you're funny Bella. Do you honestly think that she would fall with both me and Edward here?"

"Oh, right." I said, a little embarrassed. You would have thought with all the time I'd spent around these super fast vampires I would have known that by now.

"Don't worry about it, Alice is just messing with you." Edward winked and grinned. I stopped breathing for a few seconds then shook my head.

"Quit that." I said.

"Quit what?"

"Quit taking my breath away like that." I looked over to Max to brake away from his never-ending eyes. He grinned again and put a bowl of salad in front of me and a smaller salad on Max's high chair.

"He can eat? When did that happen?" Alice said, now holding the bottle for Emily.

"Since we got him. He just couldn't eat a lot by himself. I was reading up on this website though, and it said that he should be completely off the bottle by 11 or 12 months." I was so proud of Edward for researching this, although I was sort-of surprised that he didn't know any of this already.

"Oh. Emily is just starting to teeth," Alice said, picking Emily back up and placing the bottle back into her mouth. "It's driving me insane! One minute she's hot, then she's cold, then she's got a fever, then the only thing she want's to do is cry. I thought babies were supposed to be cute and... not hard work."

"I think that's what this project is supposed to teach us," I said, shoving a bite of salad into my mouth. I swallowed before speaking again. "Imagine having to do this with no help from your parents, a job that makes very little money, and you weren't a vampire." Alice looked absolutely horrified, "Exactly."

"And you don't have the baby's father to help you," Edward added, sitting on the counter. I nodded, leaning my head on his shoulder. He ran his icy fingers through my hair again and again. Max banged happily on his tray, actually getting some leafy greens into his mouth.

"That would be unbearable!" She shrieked. I laughed at her expression.

"And that's why we have to do this project. To scare some sense into those girls who are getting pregnant at fourteen." Edward looked disgusted.

"That's just wrong. When I was fourteen, girls weren't allowed to talk without being spoken to." He said.

"Edward, you grew up in the 1900s. Nobody was allowed to do anything back then. The stone age is more like it." I let him chew on that for a while before either of us spoke.

"Are you calling me old?" He finally asked. I laughed at his question. It wasn't what I was expecting at all.

"You're not old, you're experienced," I kissed his cheek gently to let him know I was kidding.

"No, he's old," Alice said, scoffing. Edward glared at her, and she glared back.

"You are awfully small to be so hugely irritating," He growled. Alice's bell-sounding laugh filled the room.

"I know," She turned on her heel and left the room with Emily. Edward chuckled and shook his head. I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was close to eight o'clock.

"We should be getting Max to bed soon," I said, hopping off the counter and putting my bowl in the sink.

"He needs a bath too," Edward was off the counter and getting Max out of his high-chair in less than a second. I put his plate in the sink as well and walked upstairs to get his bath ready. After I had the water running, Edward came up with Max and handed him off to me. I undressed him and placed him gently in the water. He looked at me for a minute, then splashed around in the water.

"Ack!" Edward wiped off his face with a towel as Max hit him with a huge splash of water. I laughed, so Edward reached into the tub and splashed me.

"You're going to pay for that. Maybe not now, mostly because my aim sucks, but defiantly later." He smirked.

After we had washed Max, I had Edward dress him as punishment for splashing me. As he was attempting to button up Max's pajama top, I wrapped my arms around him from behind and kissed in-between his shoulder blades. He turned in my arms and kissed me back on the lips.

"Bed time," He said, more to Max than me. I followed him into Max's room and watched as he sat with him in the rocking chair. Edward whispered something to Max, and I had to listen hard to tell what it was. When I listened more closely, I could tell it was a story. I sat on the couch of the room and curled up on my side, listening to Edward's soft voice.

"One day I was working in my garden when a little mouse came by. He came up to me and said, 'Oh please, oh please, can I have some cheese?' And I said, 'No you can not have any of my cheese! I need my cheese to feed my family.' 'But please, but please, can I have some cheese? My family and I have nothing and we are so hungry!' So I gave him some cheese.

"The next day I was working in the field when a bear came up to me. He came up to me and said 'Oh please, oh please, can I have some honey?' And I said, 'No you can not have any of my honey! I need my honey to go with my tea.' 'But please, but please, can I have some honey? I need honey to live!' So I gave him some honey.

"The next day I was tending my sheep when a fox comes up to me. He came up to me and said, 'Oh please, oh please, can I have a sheep?' And I said, 'No you can not have any of my sheep! I need my sheep so I can wool to make my sweaters in the winter.' 'But please, but please, can I have a sheep? Just a little sick one?' So I gave him a little sick one. And that Max is how you share. Now go to sleep." I was holding my hand over my mouth to keep from cracking up by the time Edward was done with his story. It was the funniest thing I had hear in a while. I couldn't bash on him too much though; it _had_ gotten Max to sleep. Edward smirked and turned out the lights, leaving the night-light on.

I waited until we were back in our room to burst out laughing.

"Okay, it really wasn't that funny," Edward said, changing his (still wet) shirt.

"Yes it was! Where did you come up with that story?" He flopped on the bed next to me and put his hands behind his head.

"I made it up," I was still laughing. He glared at me and I stopped. I lay on top of him and and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm sorry I laughed at your story," His arms snaked around my waist.

"Apology accepted," He mumbled, kissing my lips. I wrapped my arms around his neck and broke off the kiss, laying my head on his stone chest.

"What are we doing tomorrow?" I asked, aimlessly playing with his bronze-colored hair.

"School," He answered.

"I ment after school. We just hanging around here again?" He shrugged.

"Unless the others have plans," I got off him and walked into the hallway.

"Where are you going?" He asked, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Looking for Alice," Almost at that exact moment, Alice appeared in front of me.

"You rang?"

"What are we doing tomorrow?" I asked, leaning on the door of our room. Her eyes glazed over for a minute, then returned to normal. She looked confused.

"I can't see anything. It's really hazy," She said cautiously. Her eyes got that faraway look again, but only came back with more confusing and frustration. Edward was off the bed and to her side in a millisecond.

"I don't know," He said, answering something she had asked him in her head. "It's weird. Like you're only getting that static on AM radio." His eyes flashed to me for a second, then back again. _Like you're on an AM frequency and I'm only getting FM_. He had once said that.

"So whatever we do tomorrow is a secret?" I asked. Alice shrugged her tiny shoulders.

"I guess so." She stalked off, frustrated and disappointed. Edward sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Why don't we just head in? I'm sure everything will be better in the morning," I said, resting my head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my hair.

"Alright. You can go get ready. I'm going to talk to Alice for a minute," And with that, he was gone.

I walked back into the bathroom and ran the hot water for a shower. It soothed my muscles from a long day, forcing me to relax. After the shower, I dressed in warm pajama pants and one of Edward's hoodies. I crawled between the thick covers of the warm bed just before I heard the cries of my baby boy.

Max was barley whimpering by the time I got to him, but I still picked him up and held him in the rocking chair until he fell asleep. Even when his eyes did close and his breathing evened out, I didn't put him back in his crib. It felt so good, so natural, for him to be in my arms. Like he was made just to be there.

Edward came into the room so silently, I almost dropped Max. He sat silently on the couch and held his head in his hands, thinking hard about something. I placed Max back into his crib and sat beside Edward, resting my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me and traced his fingers along the side of my face.

"We were able to decipher Alice's visions," He whispered.

"And?" I asked when he didn't continue. He sighed deeply.

"The reason she was not able to see clearly, is because the _wolves_ are crossing the treaty. They're teaming up with the Volturi," He said slowly. My eyes widened. _The Volturi? What did they want? _"From what we could see, Jacob and Seth are not with them; they are with us. That's why she couldn't see any of us either."

"But what do the Volturi want? Why are they coming?" I could hear the fear in my voice. My hand was already shaking.

"I don't know. We will just have to wait and see," He pressed his palms into his eyes and leaned back. I couldn't move. Did it have something to do with Max? Or were they coming to finish what Edward couldn't do? This made no sense. Edward was stone-still; a statue frozen in a look of pure confusion. We stayed silent for who-knows how long.

"Are they close?" I finally asked. My voice was so soft, even I could barely hear it. He shook his head.

"Not close enough for me to hear them. But that doesn't mean anything," I let out a long breath that I hadn't realized I had been holding. "Why don't we just go to bed? We have school in the morning," I nodded and held on to his arm for support as we walked back into our room. I fell asleep quickly, safe, for now, in Edward's arms.

**Edward's POV**

I held Bella close to me, never wanting to let her go. I tried to make sense of Alice's vision again, getting absolutely no where. The image was engraved into my mind, and the only thing I could make out of it were a black cloak and a 8 foot tall wolf standing side by side in a field, staring me down. Did that mean I had to fight them? One against hundreds. The odds never even out, do they? That is, if Aro sends his whole guard... Jane will most likely be with him.

I caught a glimpse of another vision, just as it was ending. This one was a little more clear, but still hazy. It was just Aro and Jane in our house, in Max's room. They were looking over his crib with disappointed looks on their faces. Not good.

Alice blocked me from her head after that, shutting me out with her mental shield. She was forming a plan to stop them early, before they got to Bella, Max, or any of the other kids. Getting Jacob and Seth on our side was a good idea, even if I hate to admit it. They were skilled fighters. Not that it would come to that, but it was always good to have backup. The question was, thought, would they be willing to fight their own pack? Those boys were like brothers; it was surprising that something was tearing them apart.

And why were the Quiletes teaming up with the Volturi? So many questions unanswered... it irritated me. Like when I first met Bella and I couldn't read her thoughts. So many questions unanswered.

**So, yeah. I haven't been on here in forever have I? Oops. Well, here's this chapter. Hope you enjoyed. OMC! I saw Twilight today. It was amazing. I think I might have just switched from Team Jacob to Team Carlisle though. He was.....stunning. And now, answers to a few questions (Ironic much?):**

**The part where Edward reads Bella's thoughts: He didn't actually read her thoughts. Just kinda saw the expression on her face and assumed what she was thinking. Sorry for the confusion. **

**Why Max called Edward 'daddy' and Bella 'bella': Babies at Max's age have a hard time saying soft consonants like 'm' for 'mommy'.**

**The first three to four words of a paragraph: Indicates a new time period. I think that it looks weird where in one paragraph your in this time and in the next you're in a totally different place. But I'm stopping now, 'cause that got old. Did that even make sense?**

**FACT: My sister made up the story that is featured in this chapter. She used to tell it to me when I was little.  
**

**That's about it. Have anymore, feel free to ask. oh yeah, and review ^-^**


	7. ALERT

**Okay, here is what's going on.**

**I have had some major writer's block. I haven't been able to write anything for a few months. Since the new semester started, really. But lately... I don't know. Things just clicked. I'm creative again :) And reading back over this story... I've realized how much it really sucks. Seriously, I don't even know what I was thinking when I wrote this. But I still like the idea of it and I'm re-writing all of the chapters. The new chapters will be longer and more in depth. **

**I'm sorry for the inconvience. I hope you all will keep reading. But until I get all the chapters up to where I am now (and probably a little more...), this story will continue to be on hiatus. **

**Thank you, **

**EmoMe**

**Quick edit: ANY and ALL suggestions are welcome! I can't guarentee that they will be used but it will keep me out of writer's block which will make me update faster wich will make you guys and gals happier. You know. Just sayin. **


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